Bradley Wiggins welcomes challengers to take on his hour record while Giles Scott set for emotional World Cup on site of biggest career disappointment. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Bradley Wiggins might have wanted to put the one-hour record ‘out of sight’ but the four-time Olympic champion has welcomed the challenge of riders trying to better his new benchmark.
Wiggins added another chapter to his stunning career on Sunday when he recorded a distance of 54.526km at the Lee Valley VeloPark to beat Alex Dowsett’s previous record.
And Wiggins is excited to see how riders respond to the new challenge.
"For the record it would be nice now if someone does attack it in the next year or so," he said.
"Even if they fail it will be good for the record, it will give kudos to this record.”
It is set to be a bittersweet week for world champion Giles Scott as he gears up to compete on home waters at the sailing World Cup in Weymouth and Portland.
Scott, who is unbeaten in the Finn class since October 2013, trains at the Dorset venue but it was also the site of his biggest disappointment.
Back in 2011 the 27-year-old was beaten at the Olympic trials by Sir Ben Ainslie who would then go on to claim an historic fourth gold medal at London 2012.
“Looking back on it now, it’s obviously bitterly disappointing that I didn’t qualify for the London Games as I felt I was in a decent position to go on and do well at them,” he said.
“For sure I do like to be reminded a lot to make sure I’m doing things the right way, and making sure I’m doing everything I can to get to where I want to be come 2016.”
England Women sevens head coach Simon Middleton wants to make sure he assesses all the options after naming his squad for this weekend’s Rugby Europe Grand Prix in Kazan.
Middleton’s side have already secured Team GB Olympic qualification through the World Sevens Series and five players will now receive their first starts of the season in Russia.
Francesca Matthews, Lydia Thompson, Abbie Brown, Heather Fisher and Victoria Fleetwood are all included in the 12-woman squad, with the latter set for her England Sevens debut.
England take on Germany, Wales and the Netherland in their pool and Middleton expects a tough set of matches.
“This tournament is an opportunity for us to look at some exciting players outside of our Sevens programme as well as provide some more game time to players who are in the squad,” said Middleton.
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning will lead the line for Great Britain after a large squad was named for next week’s World Cup in Varese, Italy.
The duo took European gold in Poznan at the end of May and will be joined by a host of experienced heads and youthful rowers for the trip to Italy.
World silver men’s pair James Foad and Matt Langridge are also set for action along with Charlotte Taylor and Olympic champion Kat Copeland in the women’s double scull.
GB Rowing Team Performance Director Sir David Tanner said:
“We were delighted with the team’s performance at the European Championships but we are not getting carried away.
“We know that the tempo will rise in Varese with many big-hitting, non-European nations likely to enter.”
Head coach Peter Buckle says his side are relishing the challenge of competing at the EuroBasket final round in Szombathely later this week.
Buckle has named his squad for the tournament with five players set to make their finals bow in Hungary.
Temi Fagbenle, Eilidh Simpson, Erin McGarrachan are all rewarded with places while youngsters Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriot and Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby also get the nod.
"We are excited by what lies in wait this week," said Buckle.
"We have put in a lot of work and now we will test ourselves at the tournament.
"It will be a challenge, but you always expect to play the best when you go into a competition like EuroBasket Women.”
Paul Drinkhall says the main goal for the European Games in Baku will be to pick up vital ranking points en-route to next summer’s Olympics.
Victory in Baku would guarantee Drinkhall his spot at the Games but he says it is more important to play the long game.
“The way my game is, there’s no real limits – it’s making sure I do everything I can to get myself in the best place for when the tournament begins,” he said.
“The main aim is to score ranking points to secure it (Rio qualification) that way.”
Peter Kennaugh retained the lead of the Criterium du Dauphine despite Nacer Bouhanni taking the sprint win on stage two.
Kennaugh grabbed a storming solo win on the opening stage although he took a more back seat role on Monday, coming home in the pack as Frenchman Bouhanni beat compatriot Samuel Dumoulin to the line.
It leaves his lead at two seconds in the overall standings, while fellow Team Sky rider Chris Froome is 16th overall, 12 seconds back.
Team GB synchro swimmer Phoebe Bradley-Smith says that she expects the inaugural European Games in Baku to be a crucial moment for her team’s development.
Bradley-Smith is no stranger to success having won four medals at the 2014 British Synchronised Swimming Championships as well helping England’s juniors win the Primorje Cup in the same year.
And she believes that the trip to Azerbaijan will help the ten-strong British team make the leap to the next level.
“For me Baku will be my first major competition so it is incredibly exciting and I can’t wait to sample the atmosphere and get the feel for a multi sport event like this,” she added.
“Being together for that amount of time as well is going to be massive in terms of bonding as a team.
“As a team we have the same drive and all want to be successful so badly so that means we all work so hard and that is all going to come together at Baku.” Read more here.
© Sportsbeat 2015